Music Addiction

So I've been thinking lately about what it's like being a music fan, and I realized that it really borders on addiction, at least for me. That is, I always want more cds, thinking "I'll just get these ones, and that will be enough," except that it's never enough. Once I actually buy and listen to some new cds, it isn't more than a few days before I move on to wanting something else. And then I sorta feel bad, like I should have enjoyed and appreciated the ones I just bought more.

A big part of this is the law of diminishing returns. Those first cds in your collection you cherish and listen to a hundred times, day after day. But once your collection spans the hundreds or the thousands, you can't listen to any one cd that often. So, you go out and get that new cd by that new cool indie band. And you listen, and y'know, it's a smart, tight, finely-crafted pop album consisting of excellent 3-4 minute songs. But you don't love it (there are exceptions, of course). Not the way you loved those first cds. So you listen a half-dozen times, memorize a handful of the lyrics, and move on.

But then, of course, you have to keep buying - because there's always more good music coming out, and you have to keep up with all the new hot bands, and of course, with the old hot bands, too (until they pull an R.E.M. and start sucking). So you get suckered into being a completist - you need every band, and everything by every band. But it's still not enough.

In the end, I think this pattern of addiction can be attributed to Nick Hornby's observation in Songbook that, really, a pop song isn't that complicated and there's only so many times you can listen to one before you "get" it. After that, you have to move on. That's why it's always so exhilarating when you listen to an old song and discover something new - you've successfully squeezed blood from a stone, as it were. But once you become a real fan, you devour songs faster and faster. You're more skilled at picking out the important bits, and discerning the trash from the treasure. And then more music is needed.

Anyway, given this pattern, I've always just been happy that I'm able to fend it off a bit, as it were. I try hard not to give in to the temptation to buy every cd, and to become a fan of every new cool band. I content myself with really liking the first two Shins albums, but not bothering to buy the first two Interpol albums. Is Interpol good? Probably (everyone says so). But it's not worth the time, money, and effort to find out. Perhaps if I were rich, I wouldn't feel constrained this way, but somehow I don't think I'll ever have that problem.